She finally ca out!
Jasmine had been waiting far too long for Sister Aislin—the one person carrying all the clues.
But...
After that instant of excitent, what followed was tension.
How was she supposed to ask that question?
Do you know where my mom’s egg ca from?
What was Mom doing when she went out all those days?
Has Mom been in contact with any suspicious people lately?
There were simply too many questions. This wasn’t sothing that could be explained in two or three sentences.
“Jasmine, my cousin is coming out,” Elliti whispered from the side. “My cousin is always very punctual about getting off work. If you don’t hurry, she’ll leave.”
“Eh! I’m going!”
Jasmine gathered her courage and strode forward, head held high.
The next second—
She blocked Aislin, who was about to get off work and go visit Her Majesty Mother.
“Hm? It’s little Jasmine. Did you co to play with Elliti again today?”
Aislin smiled as she gently patted Jasmine’s soft hair. Instantly, the fatigue of the day seed to ease. She asked softly,
“It’s already so late and you’re still not ho. Want to give you a ride back? It’s on the way.”
The sli cottage and the elven infirmary were right next to each other.
Jasmine shook her head, nervous. “Actually... I have a very important question I want to ask.”
“Very important?”
“Yes. Extrely important. It’s about my mom.”
About Vieya.
What could it be? Aislin’s tone shifted slightly. “Then... shall we talk inside?”
Jasmine nodded solemnly.
Before long, Elliti watched as her little friend was invited into her cousin’s office, the door closing behind them and cutting off outside eyes.
Looks like Jasmine’s question should finally be answered.
With that thought, Elliti relaxed and returned to her sword practice.
The family elders said that once Cousin Aislin took the throne as queen, she would need to train even harder. Only then could she beco a qualified elven royal guard in the future.
And now that Cousin Aislin had already ascended the throne, she really had to push herself.
“I will beco... the strongest in the elven race...”
Elliti brought her sword down. The wooden dummy in front of her split cleanly in two.
But in the blink of an eye, the pieces reassembled, restoring themselves. They were even taller than before, their speed and power enhanced and reinforced.
The elf in charge of the training ground took out a pen and began recording.
Soon, the wooden dummy raised its greatsword and attacked again. Elliti assud her stance, gathering power for a heavy strike!
Boom!
Jasmine glanced at the tightly shut door behind her and sat nervously on the chair. She really had been close with Sister Aislin before—but being flustered and not knowing how to begin was also very real.
“Um... what was it I wanted to ask again?”
“It’s about your mom, isn’t it? Don’t be nervous. Just think of it as a little ga of you ask, I answer.”
As Aislin spoke, she poured a cup of milk, ward it slightly with magic, and handed it to Jasmine.
“Mm. Your mom usually likes to add a bit of sugar to her milk, so I added so too. You don’t mind, right?”
“It’s fine. I’m not picky,” Jasmine said gratefully.
She took a sip of the milk. The smooth, sweet taste spread through her mouth, and the tension she’d been holding slowly eased.
It seed that even though Sister Aislin had beco queen, there wasn’t so invisible, tragic wall between them.
Just like before—her warmth was turned all the way up.
“Elf Sister,” Jasmine organized her thoughts and finally voiced the question that had been weighing on her heart. “I heard you’ve known my mom for a long ti. Could you tell about her past?”
“It’s only a little earlier than you—less than half a year,” Aislin shook her head.
Back then, she’d t the sli at the Deerhorn City docks, then traveled together by ship as teammates for a while.
It was during that ti, through conversation, that she learned the sli was searching for a family mber—one who turned out to be her daughter, Jasmine.
If you counted carefully, she’d known the sli less than half a month longer than Jasmine had.
“So, about your mom’s past... I’d recomnd you ask her yourself,” Aislin said, sitting across from Jasmine and taking a bite of a honey stick.
“Less than half a year...?” Jasmine froze, then a look of shock and confusion rose in her eyes.
The shock was because she’d thought her mom and Aislin were childhood friends, close companions for decades. But it turned out Aislin had only known her mom less than half a year earlier than she had.
That wasn’t much of a relationship at all!
Then why had Mom been writing to Sister Aislin regularly before? And now she’d even traveled thousands of miles, crossed the sea by ship, just to visit her?
Given Mom’s personality—if she could lie down, she’d never stand; if she could eat by opening her mouth, she’d never lift a hand—regular letter writing and giving up her stay-at-ho life to take the lead on such a dangerous, thrilling vacation was... unimaginable.
‘I’ve never known Mom, who gets seasick, to take on a boat this far during a holiday.’
More importantly, Sister Aislin was very nice—but she also seed a bit too nice to Mom. Combined with the rumors Jasmine had heard before about the two of them...
Jasmine felt there was sothing deeply suspicious here. If she asked directly, she’d definitely be brushed off like a child.
Forget it. Better to clarify the origin of that egg first—figure out whether it really was Mom’s illegitimate child.
“Then, Sister Aislin... do you know where the egg Mom’s been raising lately ca from?” Jasmine asked.
“She said she picked it up outside,” Aislin replied. “Why? Is there so problem with the incubation?”
Jasmine stared blankly for a mont, then slowly shook her head.
But a layer of lancholy gathered in her clear eyes, like a lighthouse half-hidden in sea fog—an expression hard to believe could belong to a seven-year-old.
She clenched her fingers and said softly, “I can sense it. Compared to , Mom likes that egg more. It’s like how you elves are to my mom. Sister Aislin, you also like my mom—but you’ll still prioritize taking on the responsibility of the elven race.”
After saying that, Jasmine beca cautious again, as if worried she’d offended Sister Aislin with those words.
“......”
Crunch.
Aislin slowly bit through the honey stick in her mouth. She stared at Jasmine ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in silence for a very, very long ti. For an instant, countless thoughts surged up, only to be pressed down again.
She had to admit—
That was an incisive and accurate taphor. In less than a minute, Jasmine had made her understand the subtle emotion she was trying to express.
‘This child... just what kind of monster did the sli have her with?’
Aislin felt she’d been thinking too simply about things before. She sighed helplessly and said,
“Kids your age shouldn’t think about so much. There aren’t that many tangled entanglents in the world. Love and responsibility can’t be lumped together—no one can fully control that, not even gods.”
She stood up and spoke gently,
“Co on. I’ll walk you ho. I’ll ask that silly mom of yours for you—ask her whether she likes you, her daughter, more... or that pig-dragon egg more.”
Jasmine: “!”
...
At the sli cottage.
Vieya and the dragon egg were facing each other.
“Mmm, what does little Ye want to talk to about?” Flaviel said in a pleasant, smiling voice. “If you’re asking whether I can move, then yes, I can.”
As she spoke, the dragon egg even gathered strength and hopped twice on the bed.
Creak! Creak!
The bed groaned under the strain.
Vieya’s heart tightened. While silently cursing the fat dragon, she said in a dull voice,
“Settle down first. If you shake yourself and scramble the yolk, that’s one thing. But if the bed collapses, where am I and my daughter supposed to sleep tonight?”
“......”
Flaviel quieted down. After a pause, she sighed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have argued with you this morning. Forgive . For the sake of still being an egg, with an underdeveloped body.”
“So now you know how to apologize and back down? What were you doing earlier?”
Vieya raised her brows and tapped the eggshell with the sword hilt, producing a crisp clang clang, scolding arrogantly,
“If I were even a little petty, you wouldn’t be coming back tonight! And you know you’re an egg, yet you won’t stay put at ho—hopping around everywhere like you want everyone to know how impressive you are, getting yourself filthy and slly. Do you think cleaning and caring for you is easy for and the maid?”
“I’m sorry, I was wrong,” the dragon egg said pitifully.
Vieya grew even more smug. She walked to the bed and poked the dragon egg with her finger, making it wobble like a roly-poly.
“You have no idea how heavy you are. Several hundred jin! I always tell you to eat fewer donuts, but you never listen.”
“I’m a dragon. If I don’t eat, I get hungry and uncomfortable...” the dragon egg said miserably. “And most of my weight right now is the shell. If the shell isn’t thick and hard enough, I’ll die very easily.”
“It’s you who’s hungry, not ...”
Vieya muttered stubbornly, though her voice had clearly softened. In the end, she let out a breath and looked back at the dragon egg. Her rosy lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say sothing—but swallowed it back at the last mont.
“Vieya, what are you thinking about?” Flaviel asked.
Vieya was startled and blurted out, “How did you know?”
“Ever since you ca back from the street, you’ve been like this—always thinking about sothing. Did sothing happen? I’ve wanted to ask you for a while.”
“I’m fine,” Vieya shook her head. “It’s raining outside today. How about I put you back in the Golden City’s incubation room? The hatching manual says eggs can’t be exposed to alternating cold and heat. They have to stay in a constant-temperature chamber to hatch properly.”
“Vieya...” Flaviel paused slightly. “What are you worried about?”
Vieya was silent for a mont, then nodded. “I’m worried that once you hatch and recover your mobility, you’ll run away—go back to the Demon King Castle and be a Demon King again.”
“When I hatch, I won’t have the 【Pride】 Demon King Authority,” Flaviel said softly.
“That ans even if I go back, I won’t receive recognition of the crown. I won’t be able to be like before. At most, I’d be called a false king. That’s not a title I want.”
“Are you comforting ?”
“No. You’ve already collected one, two... three incumbent Demon Kings. You can ask them about this. They’d be more than happy to tell you.”
“Then where did your Authority go?”
After a long silence, Vieya looked up at the dragon egg. “Our daughter’s Authority is incomplete—she can’t activate it at all. And this on ...”
Flaviel said, “It’s complete.”
“That’s impossible...” Vieya froze.
Seeing the shock and surprise in Vieya’s eyes, Flaviel slowly added,
“Jasmine has a complete Authority. She is the rightful next 【Pride】 Demon King. But because of so things you already know, I couldn’t leave her enough ti to inherit it. Everything was rushed back then. Right after I gave birth to her... I had to send her out of Mount Aisa.”
“Back then, the you saw at Mount Aisa had already been looping in that spaceti recursion zone for hundreds of years. Everything there reset every seven days. That would also lose her mories...”
“No!” Vieya frowned and interrupted. “That you rembered even after the reset! She even—anyway, just look at how you are now. It’s obvious what happened there.”
“Of course I rembered you,” Flaviel smiled helplessly. “Every version of rembers you.”
“As for what happened at Mount Aisa, I do know it. But there are also so problems.”
“What problems?” Vieya’s brow furrowed deeper, a vague sense of unease rising.
“I have all the mories from that ti, but I can’t fully synchronize with the emotions I had back then,” Flaviel said after a pause. “It’s like so of her actions had already slipped beyond my control.”
“That’s too abstract. Are you saying you’re not the sa?” Vieya asked.
Flaviel continued, “Every version of is different—but all of them still love you.”
“Back to the point. Jasmine’s problem will be resolved soday. Ti is the best dicine. When that day cos, she will replace and beco the true Demon King.”
Vieya listened silently, saying nothing.
She didn’t want her daughter or Flaviel to beco a Demon King at all. Unlike the Demon King maids around her, she could never treat her daughter or Flaviel the sa way she treated them.
“Flaviel,” Vieya suddenly looked up, “do you know that when I stabbed you with my sword back then, I really wished I’d never touch a sword again in my life? I wasn’t afraid of dying—I was afraid that even as a ghost, you’d haunt and never let go.”
Flaviel: “......”
“But in the end, the holy sword I abandoned... you handed it back to yourself at Mount Aisa. You said I shouldn’t go, yet you forced the sword into my hands anyway. You’re really awful!”
When the words fell—
A sli and an egg faced each other in silence, unable to speak for a long ti.
“I know I’m really stupid...” Vieya said, a little awkward.
“Then why did you still take the position of Chief Hero? For your teacher?” Flaviel asked softly.
“Partly.” Vieya nodded. “Sotis I can be pretty diligent—like during the early stages of a ga. The environnt’s terrible, but I like that feeling. When I first picked up a sword, my wish was very simple. It wasn’t to be admired by everyone—it was to see the cow monster girls, the sheep monster girls of this world...”
Vieya suddenly shook her head.
“But with my level too low, forget seeing the world—I nearly got killed by a sli just trying to leave the city. I could only level up. This world is cruel. If you don’t level up, your level is low. If your level is low, you die.”
“After surviving several near-death experiences, my mind was filled with leveling. You probably wouldn’t understand—when you’re low level and face a powerful monster whose level far exceeds yours, that humiliation and unwillingness when you can’t even draw your sword...”
Vieya smiled faintly. “Evil dragon, sotis I really admire you. Your guts are huge—you actually dared to sneak alone right in front of soone like , who kills demons without blinking.”
“I wasn’t that brave,” Flaviel interrupted.
Vieya looked at her in confusion.
“I was afraid too,” Flaviel said. “I also encountered powerful enemies. You should’ve heard the World Tree ntion that my original birth was to deal with the Demon King Authority ant to contain and erode the World Tree.”
“Back then, I’d just been born. Facing that black dragon whose wings could blot out the sky, I thought I was going to die the mont I ca into the world... Vieya, I was terrified—more afraid of death than you. So I went mad, fighting desperately for my own survival. I bit to death the dragon couple’s hatchling and devoured its Demon King Authority. But I couldn’t digest or contain that Authority’s power. I killed the black dragon’s child—but I was going to die too.”
“I was really scared. No one would care about . If I wanted to live, I could only rely on myself. Only by making my teeth sharper and my claws keener could I avoid being hunted by humans, attacked by monsters—could I... live.”
Vieya stared at the dragon egg in shock. Through the thick shell, she seed to see a pair of eternally burning golden eyes.
The cottage fell into a strange silence. Both of them seed lost in their own mories. The orange candlelight flickered, while outside, raindrops pattered loudly against the window lattice.
Bang bang bang!
Suddenly, urgent knocking sounded at the door.
Crap!
Vieya jumped to her feet and turned toward the pitch-black window. She realized she’d forgotten sothing very important.
The day was over—and her daughter was still at the training grounds practicing magic!
Bang bang bang!
“Coming, coming!” the maid in the neighboring room shouted loudly.
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